Thursday, January 31, 2008
Super Foods Everyone Needs To Be Eating For Nutrition, Health, And General Wellbeing
Super Foods Everyone Needs To Be Eating For Nutrition, Health, And General Wellbeing
By Brenda
Take a more in depth look at what the positive effects are to eating more color rich, dense plant 'super foods', and in eating more of the health enhancing properties of good 'super food' fat foods.
'Super Foods' are a classification of certain types of whole foods (minimally processed whenever possible) that are believed, and have been shown, to be good for you. If you begin to make a conscious effort to include more of these super foods into your weekly diet, and commit to understanding why they are good for your body, then you will be living a healthier life inside your body.
Of Course, you should know fresh and raw is best but, whether canned, frozen, or minimally processed, it is far better to eat them this way than not to eat them at all. Eating these health enriching 'super foods' will help you look and feel your best, and younger. They will, also, help you lose excess weight and maintain it, reduce your risks of life long diseases, give you longer lasting energy, and a feeling of full satiation after eating them. So let's get started on some of the best super foods you need to be eating to reach your healthy body goals.
What plant super plant food is good for helping to soften your skin? Pomegranates.
Pomegranates are loaded with an antioxidant vitamin, vitamin C. Plus, the juice from the seeds contain ellagic acid and punicalagin. The first substance fights free radical damage; the second substance may increase your body's ability to preserve collagen. Collagen helps keep skin looking moist, young, and soft.
What super plant food helps smooth fine lines in the skin? Blueberries.
Blueberries have become notoriously known for their antioxidant power. They have more antioxidants than almost any other plant food. Blueberries help protect your skin, and acts as a natural sunscreen to protect skin against sunburning, strengthens overall brain functioning, and helps you fight emotional stress.
What super plant foods help firm skin, giving it more elasticity? Kale and spinach.
These two veggies, and many others, have high levels of the antioxidant vitamins A, C, D, E, and K. and other compounds known as phytonutrients. These natural plant food substances help guard against sunburning the skin, strengthen heart (cardiovascular) health, and helps protect you from developing cancer.
What cold water fish sources, also known as super foods, helps keep skin, hair, and joints healthy and properly lubricated? Sardines, salmon, mackerel, tuna, and other small ocean fish species.
Do not care for the taste of fish? Well, you can still get your omega-3s in smaller amounts in flaxseed, walnuts, almonds, grass-fed beef and free range poultry meats and eggs. Omega-3 fats are great for sharp mental functioning, reduces risk of developing heart disease, cancer, and lowers the risk of developing behavior and mood disorders (depression).
What super plant food helps control brown age spots on the skin? Green, black, and white teas.
These healthy brews contain a substance called catechins. This phytonutrient helps prevent skin damaging sunburns. Another substance found in green, black, and white tea leaves is another phytonutrient known as polyphenols. This nutrient chemical may possibly help to reverse, or prevent, brown age spots on the skin.
Both of these phytochemicals have also shown to help protect us against heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
Tea contains half the amount of caffeine than coffee. Black tea, in particular, has been shown to improve oral mouth health. Teas can be drank either hot or iced, and can be used as a flavoring agent in marinades and other dishes.
What healthy fat oils help maintain a rosy skin glow? Olive oil, coconut oil, and lean animal saturated fats such as grass-fed beef and free range poultry meats and eggs.
Olive oil is mostly a monunsaturated fat. It also contains a small amount of polyunsaturated fat, so do not over use it. Extra virgin olive oil has a higher level of the antioxidant vitamin, vitamin E. Olive oil also activates the secretion of bile in the gallbladder, and regulates pancreatic hormones better, and more naturally, than prescription drugs. Consequently, it also lowers the incidence of gallstone formation.
Coconut oil increases energy levels by boosting your metabolism. It is mostly a saturated fat food source (60%), to a lesser degree, it has a small amount of monounsaturated fat oil, and a trace amount of polyunsaturated fat.
I would suggest cooking with both of these healthy fats, alternating their use in specific dish recipes, for example; coconut oil for stir frying and frying meats and vegetables, olive oil for salad dressings and meat marinades.
Lean sources of poultry and animal fats come from mostly grass fed, free range livestock. As mentioned earlier, these healthy proteins and fat food sources are higher in omega-3s than conventionally, mostly grain fed, meat sources. Omega-3s improve blood circulation, leaving skin with a rosy, supple look and feel.
What dietary fluid substance helps to better distribute all of these healthy food nutrients to where they are needed throughout your body? Why it is water, of course.
No other fluid solvent does this more efficiently than pure water. Water will, also, carry away toxic body wastes, hydrate all body cells, and consistently lower and maintain a more desired body weight, naturally.
Would I kid you here?
No, I absolutely would not. After all, this is a chosen area of serious passion for me. This strategy does work, and I might add, eating more as nature had intended for us to eat has brought me out of a state of ill health, to enjoy a much healthier body and lifestyle today!
You can do it this way too, and be most successful at eliminating, or easing, many different health challenges that you are currently, and frustratingly, tolerating at the moment. At the very least, it should make you feel better knowing that you are actively trying to do something to improve your dismal situation.
Article Source: http://www.article-outlet.com/
Tips For Choosing The Right Health Insurance Plan For You
Tips For Choosing The Right Health Insurance Plan For You
By Adrian
There are several factors that need to be taken into consideration when choosing a health insurance plan. Taking time to explore the different benefits offered by the different health insurance plans is well worth the time and effort and will enable you to choose one that is best suited to your requirements.
Even though all health insurance plans differ from each other in detail, a basic premium is a standard feature of all of them. This is the amount you or your employee will need to pay to purchase that particular health insurance coverage. Most of the other fees are calculated as a percentage of this amount, so it is vital that you determine the basic premium of whichever health insurance plan you are considering. This is especially important if you or anybody in your family is suffering from any serious or chronic health condition.
Health insurance plans are either Indemnity or managed care, both of which are rather different in their fundamental approach.
Managed care plans typically have pacts with certain doctors, health care providers and hospitals who agree to provide a host of services to plan members at lower costs. Some of the benefits of managed care plans are less paperwork and reduced out-of-pocket expenses. The disadvantage of choosing managed care plans is the restricted choice of health care providers available to you.
Indemnity insurance plans, also called fee-for-service plans, offer a wider choice of health care services, doctors and hospitals. If you choose an indemnity insurance plan you would have to bear the costs upfront, and the insurance company will then reimburse you at a later date.
With different plans being tailored differently, there are bound to be some plans that suit your needs better. Here are some suggestions on what to look for when choosing a health insurance plan:
Is the coverage offered by the health insurance plan as extensive as you would like it to be?
Is the choice of doctors and hospitals too restricted or does the plan offer you a fairly wide choice?
Compare the cost of service of different health insurance plans that offer the same benefits.
Compare the extra expenditure you will have to make on premiums and other health care costs
Look into the policies regarding any chronic health conditions or disabilities that you or your family members may have
Check out the policy coverage for you and your family members if you travel a lot or spend time at two homes
Article Source: http://www.article-outlet.com/
Thursday, January 17, 2008
A Cleansing Diet To Improve Your Health
A Cleansing Diet To Improve Your Health
By Zach
One of the most common cleansing diets is a detox diet. This is a diet that will release the toxins in the body that have been stored in the fat cells and will allow the body to excrete them and cleanse your body.
One of the most common cleansing diets is a detox diet. This is a diet that will release the toxins in the body that have been stored in the fat cells and will allow the body to excrete them and cleanse your body.
Why use a cleansing diet? This is used to eliminate toxins and other contaminants from the body. The main purposes of doing this is to:
improve health
Feel more energetic
Improve immunity
Improve your mental condition
Aid in digestion
Help with weight loss
There are various ways to do this.
You can do a complete fast. This would entail not eating or drinking at all.
Just drink water. This would be not eating or drinking anything but water.
Just drink water and juice-the same as above accept you would be adding juice.
Eat certain foods-some diets will consist of just vegetables and fruits others will be just liquids. There are many variations on this.
Use herbs: Herbal cleansing has been used since ancient times. Certain herbs are used as cleansing medicines to release and excrete toxins from the body.
Reduce calories: Some cleansing diets are used to reduce calories and aid in weight loss.
The most common diet is one composed mainly of fruits and vegetables. Preferably these should be raw, unmodified and unprocessed. More water is recommended and complete absence of alchahol.
However cleansing diets are not without side effects. If done rapidly the toxins
can be released into the bloodstream more quickly than the body can get rid of them. This condition is known as Herxheimer reaction.
This can result in:
* Headaches
* Muscle pain
* Weakness
* Insomnia
* Irritability
Herxheimer reaction: this is the name given to the body's condition when detoxification is occurring too rapidly and the body is not being given enough time to excrete the toxins. Some detox diets will produce this effect. This often leads to people abandoning their cleansing diets thinking that the diet is making them more sick. In actual fact if they continue with their diet the symptoms diminish and they will feel healthier.
Here are some ways that people have tried to lessen the symptoms of Herxheimer reaction:
* Drinking as much pure water as they can-this in effect will help the body flush out any toxins.
* Taking more exercise-this will improve circulation and help the body work more efficiently. This could help the body work more efficiently and excrete the toxins faster.
* Getting more sunlight
* Detox baths
* Excessive sweating-with saunas, baths and use of herbs
* Avoiding refined processed foods and toxic environmental chemicals
* Aromatherapy oils are used to help aches and pains brought on by rapid detoxification
Cleansing diets have been used from ancient times and can often help you to improve your health and make you feel better. Some people do these diets on a regular basis others more seldom. However you want to do these diets you should exercise care and possibly consult your doctor before commencing on one as sometimes side effects can be severe. If you have any underlying disease especially metabolic ones such as diabetes then it is very necessary to consult your Doctor before trying any type of cleansing diets.
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And again, thank you to those contributing daily to our national institute of health website.
Good Health Equals Cheap Life Insurance By Darren
By Darren
If you're looking for cheap life insurance, you should begin looking while you're relatively young and in good health. Age and health are the two biggest factors life insurance agents use to base their decisions about policy pricing.
Unfortunately, most people don't get life insurance until they're older or until they've developed a medical condition. Only then do they realize it's time to start thinking about protecting their families. But that's also when it's practically impossible to find cheap life insurance.
Will your insurance company agree?
Think your high cholesterol isn't much of a problem? Well your insurance company doesn't share that opinion. In fact, if a medical examination reveals this condition, you'll more than likely be put into a higher risk category. Once that happens, you can forget about being offered cheap life insurance, regardless of any other factor.
What about your high blood pressure? You think all you've got to do is take a vacation and it'll be back to normal, but the life insurance company sees the situation differently. It sees high blood pressure as a precursor to more significant health problems; maybe not next month or even next year but very likely during your coverage period.
The same goes for your weight. What you consider "a few love handles around the middle" may be considered "obese" by the insurance company.
Smoking is another red flag when it comes to shopping for cheap health insurance. If you regularly use tobacco products, forget about getting a break on your life insurance premium. In fact, expect it to cost anywhere from 25 to 50% more. Smoking definitely comes at a price because it can cause so many health problems. Besides making you pay more, insurance companies don't really have any other options.
Show you are willing to make an effort
Insurance companies understand that medical conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, using tobacco products, and being overweight can be controlled and that doing so can lead to a significant improvement in your health.
So there actually is some truth in believing a vacation could help lower your blood pressure. And although you may not have been quoted what you consider a cheap life insurance premium, you're not completely out of luck.
Insurance companies have softened a bit. Rather than permanently locking you into a high risk category for conditions such as those listed above, the company may be willing to improve your rates if you prove you're willing to improve your health. Most agents won't come right out and offer this, but if you ask for suggestions on ways to lower your costs, make sure you listen to the answers.
If you can show you're working towards consistently improving your health, your insurance company may be able to offer cheaper life insurance premiums. You'll be required to show documentation of the improvements, and possibly undergo an independent medical review by the life insurance company, but it will be worth the effort.
Article Source: http://www.article-outlet.com/
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Water Is The Key To Health And Wellness
Water Is The Key To Health And Wellness
By robert
Our bodies are composed of three-quarters water. Dehydration means your body does not have enough water for it to function correctly. You lose water when you sweat, breathe, urinate, defecate, blow your nose, have diarrhea, or throw up. To make up for the water you lose, you must hydrate your body by eating and drinking.
Who Gets Dehydrated?
Chances are you are dehydrated right now and you do not even know it! Everyone gets dehydrated, even babies and teenagers. Babies get dehydrated in part because their thirst mechanism is not fully developed. Even in the teen years, symptoms of adequate hydration may already be present and hydration can be a problem. Athletes and anyone engaging in a regular exercise routine are also prone to becoming dehydrated.
What are the Symptoms of Dehydration?
Signs of dehydration are many. Energy loss is usually the first sign of dehydration because the cells of the body lose water first. Water is a primary driving force of energy production inside the
cells, so even a little water loss causes a big drop in energy. Some say that for every one percent drop of water inside your cells energy production is cut by 10%.
Other symptoms of dehydration include:
fatigue,
moodiness,
a drained feeling,
noticeable thirst,
headaches,
feeling lightheaded or dizzy,
rapid heartbeat,
dry lips and mouth,
wrinkles and sagging skin,
infrequent urination,
a dark colored or strong smelling urine,
digestive problems,
constipation,
allergies
Dehydration is the Source of Serious Health Problems
Many researchers have suggested that dehydration is at the core of serious health problems. Some researchers even suggest that water can aid in the cure of arthritis, back pain, angina, migraines, colitis, asthma, high blood pressure, adult-onset diabetes, high cholesterol, metabolism problems, weight loss, kidney probolems, joint problems, lower back problems, morning sickness, heartburn, arthritis, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, loss of libido as well as a host of other chronic and/or degenerative diseases. Some health care researchers believe that that chronic health problems are caused by dehydration.
What is the bottom line? Consult with your doctor about your health problems. When your doctor tells you that all things considered, you need to drink more water, you have a choice. You can respond by thinking to yourself, "I already know this. I paid you money to give me this advice." Or, you can respond by thanking your doctor for the best advice you have ever been given.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Can All Low Carb Diets Improve Your Health?
Can All Low Carb Diets Improve Your Health?
By Aliza Adar
Most people usually think of all low carb diets to help lose weight. Some low carbohydrate diets have even gotten a bad reputation. People are often surprised to hear that are many health benefits to low carbohydrate diets that are actually important. Low carbohydrate diets have been designed by doctors for health reasons!
All carbs break down into glucose. Our bodies don't excel when provided with high volumes of simple or refined carbohydrates. One reason for this is these products do not contain enough fiber and convert too quickly into simple sugars in the body. If you are unable to utilize this extra energy, your body will store it as fat and finally triglycerides.
Triglycerides are the result of excess glucose - sugar.The concept of good carbs or bad carbs simply refers to how quickly your body breaks the carbs down into sugar. If you are eating a lot of carbs and not exercising, your triglycerides are going to go up. The way to get your triglycerides down is to go on your choice of all low carb diets, and get some exercise.
Eating too many simple or refined carbohydrates interferes with our body's natural carbohydrate
metabolism, leading to an increase in insulin output,a condition called hyper-insulinism and insulin resistance. Many health issues, including heart disease, may result.
Low Carb Recipe: Strawberry Crepes oil 4 eggs
1/2 cup cottage cheese
4 tablespoons Stevia sweetener
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange peel grated
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Strawberry filling:
2 cups strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced
6 tablespoons Stevia sweetener
1 cup sour cream, or yoghurt
Prepare a heavy, 8 inch skillet or crepe pan with heated oil. Whip all crepe ingredients together in mixing bowl. Pour crepe mixture into skillet, making sure to cover the bottom evenly.
Cook until bottom is browned and top is set. Use a spatula to flip the crepe and brown the other side. Once done, transfer to a paper towel. Repeat this procedure with remaining
batter and oil.
Next, make your filling by combining strawberries with sugar substitute and sour cream, or yoghurt. Spoon about 1/4 of mixture on each crepe. Roll up and Add a dollop of sour cream to taste and garnish with remaining strawberries.
Yields 6 servings
Total Net carbs: 4 grams per serving
These Success tips should help dieting:
When cravings hit, substitute another activity for eating. Go to the gym or health club if possible, or dance, or walk around the block. Again, these Success tips apply to all low carb diets.
Article Source: http://www.article-outlet.com/
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Health News Alert: Discover The Startling Facts About Insomnia!
Health News Alert: Discover The Startling Facts About Insomnia!
By Ryan
Insomnia or the inability to sleep is a common disorder that is suffered by millions of people worldwide. It may be comforting for insomniacs to learn that this is not considered a disease but a condition that can easily be overcome through systematic and effective ways designed to combat this disorder. There are many facts about insomnia that has been published on various publications, whether online or in the physical world.
Facts about Insomnia Established
Insomnia is a condition where the sufferers find it difficult to doze off into dreamland. When insomnia is caused by certain short term event, the effects might likely go away after the emotional trauma which causes it has dissipated away. However when the condition of insomnia occurs over a prolonged period of time, you need to get moving and get your facts about insomnia straight so that you will know what you are up against!
Causes of Insomnia
It is perhaps an established fact about insomnia that prolonged periods of exposure to lack of sleep can cause major depression, impairment in the ability to perform daily tasks and changes in eating patterns as well.
In order to begin the search for the right treatment, you need to understand some basic facts about insomnia. Insomnia can be defined as the inability to fall asleep, and the difficulty of remaining asleep once you really do manage to fall asleep. This is an annoying and disturbing situation to be in because when sleep patterns are disrupted, a tremendous sense of fatigue follows the day after.
Studies conducted revealed some startling facts about insomnia that you need to know about. Insomnia can be a form of disorder in itself without any causal factors or it can be the direct consequence of another traumatic event. The former is known as primary insomnia and the second condition is referred to as secondary insomnia.
Facts about Insomnia: A Brief Summary
To effectively win the battle against insomnia, you need to get the facts about insomnia right, and then move on to determine the cause if insomnia itself. If you are suffering from secondary insomnia, the best way to fix this issue is by taking the necessary steps to remove the causal factors that are creating those problems or you, or aggravating it. If the insomnia is a primary form, then the issue could be a serious illness or a serious emotional problem that needs attention from a medical professional.